1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of automatic organization of information. In particular, the invention relates to smart folders for storing files based on their contents and profiles of usage.
2. Description of Related Art
As access to the information superhighways becomes popular, users have to deal with a vast amount of information from a variety of sources. The task of sorting out the information based on content is increasingly more difficult.
There are a number of ways to help organize and store electronic information. One way is to increase the amount of mass storage capacity by upgrading the hard drive. It is not uncommon to find home machines with hard drives having storage capacities greater than 1 Gigabyte (GB). However, increasing storage capacity does not solve the problem of organizing data. Faced with a large amount of information, the user typically creates more directories or folders to organize and store the information for later retrieval. However, the user usually forgets the context under which he or she files the information, and will thus have to spend a large amount of time in retrieving the information.
Another organization and storage technique is a simple filing system which provides external attributes to the files or directories such as file name, date of entry. To search for a file, the user usually has to scan through the entire file system in an attempt to use these external attributes. These attributes are independent of the content or purpose of the file, and therefore are not easily remembered by the user when a large number of files are being processed.
Another way to improve the organization of files is the use of rules to govern the depositing of information in application specific folders. Examples of systems employing this technique are Eudora, CCMail, and several USENET news readers. Although this rule-based technique provides the user with some control over his or her organization of the files, it has many disadvantages. First, this rule-based disposition of messages or documents is very application-specific and applies only to messages or documents within the context of the specific application. For example, one cannot file a Word.TM. document in a Eudora folders without constructing an e-mail message. As another example, one must start CCMail to look at a PowerPoint presentation in a CCMail folder. Second, these rule-based systems are static and inflexible. Once a rule is set up, it does not change and cannot be adjusted unless the user modifies them specifically. Because of this, the rules can be very complex, and time consuming to maintain.
Another way to improve the organization of files is the use of indexing. One example of a system employing this technique is Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS). This method allows a user to index folders of documents by their contents. These systems allow the user to quickly search for documents with specific content. The user may also search for documents having a similar content with another document without specifying the details of the content. However, these systems do not provide automatic categorization and organization. The categorization function allows the user to file documents in multiple locations and allows a much more natural mode of information access.
It is therefore desirable to have an intelligent filing system that can automatically organize the information into folders based on the contents and profiles of usage.